Universal Music UK’s blog on music, the music news stories which interest us most and the wider issues which affect our business. Some food for thought we hope.

Globally renowned artists Gilbert & George and Ai Weiwei will be designing record sleeves for Secret 7”, the charity project which gives designers a chance to create an original vinyl artwork, this year raising money for ART AGAINST KNIVES.

Universal Music UK chairman & CEO David Joseph has announced the launch of Virgin EMI Records – a creative powerhouse bringing together the newly reinvigorated Virgin Records and its Universal Music sister company Mercury Records.

Every recording artist wants to leave the studio with a remarkable piece of work and they’ll go to extraordinary lengths to ensure their music sounds exactly as they intended. But for many fans listening to the end result, a hefty slice of audio quality has been lost in the rush for convenience. Last week, in Abbey Road studios, there was a strong feeling that the tide is turning.

At our Sound Open Day – the third of our annual Open Day events - our panel debated sound quality and if it still had an importance. Here's the video from the evening so you can hear exactly what the panel had to say.

Music fans up and down the country eagerly tuned in on Wednesday night for The BRITs 2013. Once the show was over, the hottest ticket in town was for the Universal Music Brits party hosted by Bacardi at the Soho House pop-up.

The past few months we’ve been hitting the road for some more Utalks, visiting schools, universities and youth organisations up and down the country with our panellists ready to discuss pretty much anything about music and the music business.

It’s hard to believe that 12 months ago, Years and Years had won BBC Sound Polls for 2015 and James Bay was second. But 12 months on, both are a huge success, with Years and Years’ debut album reaching number one in the charts, and James Bay has been nominated for three Grammy Awards.

Brian Rose, Managing Director - Commercial Division UK & Ireland, recently signed off on a ground-breaking deal to sell CDs in Primark. He discusses how music and fashion can become the perfect retail partners and also how new digital music services, smart-phones and tablets will make this Christmas Day a high-water mark in digital downloads.